A banknote handling apparatus (banknote depositing/dispensing apparatus 1) includes a transport unit (41), a storage unit (3), an upper housing (111) configured to house the transport unit, and a lower housing (protective housing 131) configured to house the storage unit. The upper housing has an opening (1111) which is formed through a surface thereof on one side in a horizontal direction, and the transport unit is configured to be drawn out of the upper housing toward the one side in the horizontal direction through the opening. The lower housing has an opening (1311) which is formed through a surface thereof on the other side in the horizontal direction, and is configured to be drawn out of the lower housing toward the other side in the horizontal direction through the opening.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A banknote handling apparatus, comprising: a transport unit configured to transport banknotes; a plurality of storage cases configured to store the banknotes; an upper housing configured to house the transport unit; a lower housing arranged under the upper housing, configured to house the plurality of storage cases, and including a barrier, the barrier being provided between the upper and lower housings to separate the lower housing from the inside of the upper housing; and a controller which is configured to perform at least one of a depositing process of storing the banknotes which have entered the upper housing in a predetermined one of the plurality of storage cases via the transport unit, or a dispensing process of dispensing the banknotes fed from the predetermined one of the plurality of storage cases out of the upper housing via the transport unit, wherein when one of the storage cases causes a fault during the depositing or dispensing process, the controller switches the storage case that has caused the fault to a different one of the storage cases to continue the process, while performing a recovery operation of restoring the storage case that has caused the fault.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fault occurs inside the storage case, and is resolvable through the recovery operation performed solely by the storage case.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein in a situation where the fault has been resolved through the recovery operation, the controller enables the storage case that has recovered from the fault when a next process is performed, and in a situation where the fault has not been resolved through the recovery operation, the controller disables the storage case that has not recovered from the fault when a next process is performed.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storage case is a stacking storage case configured to store the banknotes in a stacked state.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
November 10, 2015
February 12, 2019
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